In the existing network architecture, there is a super-strong coupling relationship between network functions and network devices, and the network functions are all implemented by specifically designed devices exclusive to manufacturers, thus bringing many inconveniences. For example, improvement in the performance of these devices is limited by satisfaction of specific/customized demands while keeping the development of hardware with carrier-grade reliability. As another example, when an operator needs to deploy a new service, it is necessary to deploy a newly designed device having a related dedicated function, which will increase the service deployment cost of the operator. On the other hand, with the rapid improvement of the performances of central processing units and memories, a basic condition is provided for running the network functions on general servers in a software form. A network function virtualization (NFV) technology emerges as the times require, and its aim is to run the network functions on general hardware devices, so as to reduce capital expenditure by large scale deployment. “Virtualization” enables the network functions to be deployed and updated as needed, greatly facilitates remote management and maintenance, and may reduce the operation cost.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture and a reference point for NFV management and orchestration (NFV-MANO) according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, a network functions virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) is responsible for functions such as life cycle management of network services, resource scheduling of a network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) of a cross-virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM), etc., a virtualized network functions manager (VNFM) is responsible for life cycle management of VNF instances, each of the VNF instances being supposed to have a related VNFM, and the virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) is responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI to calculate and store network resources.
As the network functions are virtualized, performance measurement of a virtual network function application layer is executed by VNFs, and may be directly sent to an element management (EM) or the VNFM by the VNFs, and performance measurement related to the network resources is acquired from the VIM by an operation support system (OSS)/network management system (NMS) via the NFVO. Performance measurement data is mainly used for assessing the quality of the network services or the utilization rate of the network resources and the processing capacity of the network devices.
The performance measurement related to the network resources may be related to specific VNFs according to an ETSI GS NFV-MANO. However, if the performance measurement of the VNF application layer is reported to an element management system (EMS), the EMS sends performance information to the OSS/NMS according to a performance management mode of a network management northbound interface in the related art, and the OSS/NMS cannot relate performance measurement items of the application layer to the specific VNFs. That is because performance measurement objects at the northbound interface are all identified by distinguish names (DN).
FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method of executing performance management by a network manager according to the related art. As shown in FIG. 2, the method may include the following processing steps:
Step S202: an OSS/NMS creating a performance measurement task via a measurement object DN identity;
Step S204: an EMS creating a performance measurement task;
Step S206: an element reporting performance measurement results;
Step S208: the EMS reporting a performance measurement file via the measurement object DN identity; and
Step S210: the OSS/NMS statistically analyzing all performance measurement results of each element, and assessing the quality of network functions and the processing capacity of network devices.
It should be noted that if VNFs to which the performance measurement results belong cannot be determined, all performance measurement information of the VNFs cannot be collected when performance measurement data is statistically analyzed, and the quality of the network functions provided by the VNFs and the processing capacity of virtual network devices cannot be comprehensively and effectively assessed.